A top Russian official has urged all countries to make efforts to ensure that the “threat of global confrontation, of a hot, full-scale World War III” does not materialize. “World tensions are white-hot indeed,” he warned.

Russian Official: Full-Scale World War III Should Not Materialize

The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, urged all countries to make efforts to avoid the outbreak of a new, full-scale global conflict Tuesday while addressing participants in the Znanie (Knowledge) educational marathon.

“I cannot say what the last straw, what the trigger may be. But it may happen at some point,” he was quoted by Russian news outlet Tass as saying. The official emphasized:

We all need to work to ensure that this threat of global confrontation, of a hot, full-scale World War III should not materialize.

Commenting on the current conflict between Russia and Western countries, he stressed that Russia has no desire to see a war break out.

However, he said: “But world tensions are white-hot indeed.”

Noting that he and his friends “used to talk about confrontation with the United States, about confrontation between the Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Alliance,” the Russian official stressed:

Back then it seemed like some kind of hypothetical, far-fetched and impossible scenario. But I can’t say that now, however sad this may sound.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said this week that anti-Russia sanctions will have a detrimental impact on the global economy, with the potential to spark a global economic crisis. To reduce its dependence on the USD after the U.S. seized about $300 billion of its foreign reserves, Russia is pushing for the BRICS to gain global influence. The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are also working on creating a currency.

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